Los Angeles-based Zak Toscani said his colleague was able to trace the person responsible by watching CCTV footage.

The plot thickened when it was revealed a colleague had binned the fried rice.

The offender was out of the office at the time of the revelation, according to Mr Toscani, but arrived back at work shortly after an email had been sent to all staff warning them not to steal lunches.

After reading the email from HR, the “thief” expressed shock.

Mr Toscani ended the thread by saying that although the staff knew who was to blame for the disappearing shrimp fried rice, they “may never know why she did it” – but some Twitter users had their theories.

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Nic Stransky assumed the colleague thought she was “being helpful”.

While James Mullarky believed the culprit may have been getting her own back on inconsiderate consumers of pungent foods.

Despite the unclear motive, the tale encouraged many people to share their similar experiences of workplace food theft, and according to J-Swizzle on Twitter, an incident he witnessed led to marriage.

Although Nicole File may have been frustrated at her food being eaten, she couldn’t fault the thief’s cleaning skills.

But Heradasha’s boss took office food-binning to a new level.

While the shrimp fried rice saga may have ended, one thing it has taught us is that food thieves live and work among us. Always put a label on it.